jon: well, a los angeles man won the championship in the men's competition, the women's title goes to competitor from sweden. thank heavens for hay bales! jenna: have you tried skateboarding? jon: i've never tried it. thanks for joining us. jenna: "america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert and welcome to charlotte as the democrats get ready to begin the democratic national convention and right at the start of the romney/ryan general election push, we get an ugly reminder on america's debt that provides a challenge to both camps. welcome to "america live," everyone, i'm megyn kelly reporting from the site of the dnc here in charlotte, north carolina. we are roughly 24 hours right now from the start of the convention, and we expect be reporting from the treasury department around this same time tomorrow of an ugly new landmark for this country. our debt has hit a new high, reaching the $16 trillion mark.

for the first time ever. $16 trillion. both campaigns are on the trail today with president obama in toledo, ohio, rallying union supporters on this labor day, and on the right side of your screen, we are expecting congressman paul ryan to speak in greenville, north carolina, not far from here, in just about 15 minutes. voters in poll after poll have been telling us that dealing with america's red ink is a big deal for them, and both parties have had a hand in creating this debt mess as we stand poised to make some very troubling history. the question is, does either campaign have a solution to this problem? look at that number. stephen moore is senior economic writer for "the wall street journal", he's with me now. steve, it was four years ago that barack obama was out on the campaign trail red calling president bush -- ridiculing president bush saying that number 43, he was referring to him as, racked up, what was it,

$4 trillion of debt all by his lonesome? and now barack obama has far exceeded that in just three years, president bush did it in eight years, racking up $5.36 trillion, that's over $4 billion of debt a day, and the question is now while there's plenty of blame to go around, who is out there campaigning on this with a real plan to change it? >> well, megyn, you called it an ugly day, i call it ignominious. $16 trillion of debt, and i was thinking -- megyn: ooh, that's confusing. what does it mean? >> well, you know, $16 trillion of debt is larger than our entire national output for a year, so it's an incredibly large number. i was thinking, you know, if you go back to the late 1990s u do you remember, megyn, we had a few years of surplus, and people were saying, gosh, if we keep this up, we're going to be able to pay off our national debt. now here we are with a debt three or four times larger than

this one. i think george bush's presidency and this president are responsible for this, but obama has spent more money in three-and-a-half years than bush did in eight years. you asked me who's going to do something about it, if you look at just the forecast of what happens if we stay on the course we're on right now, it's trillion dollar deficits per year that get added to that debt every year from now until kingdom come. so we better do something to start paying our bills, or we're going to have a financial catastrophe on our hands. megyn: president obama talked about when he was running for office about how we were doing this on the backs of our children and how it was unpatriotic, in the his view, what george bush did, four trillion this eight years. now he's done five-plus trillion in three-and-a-half years, and the question is why isn't this a bigger issue in this campaign, steve, when you look at what these candidates are saying? last week the republicans had their debt clock, they tried to make it a big deal. >> right, right. megyn: but, really, is in the issue that that's getting a lot

of attention on the campaign trail, and should it be getting more attention considering what we're about to do with our children with this number? >> i'm not there, but i'm sure they don't have the debt clock ticking in charlotte because -- megyn: no, no debt clock. >> but, you know, if you look at the polls on the economy, what you find, megyn, is issue number one for the american people is, obviously, jobs. how do we get this unemployment rate down. number two is getting growth back, and number three is the national debt and deficit. i think the american people are much more willing to talk about this and making the cuts and making the changes in our tax code and in our spending patterns and our into entitlemes than the politicians are. i've been kind of troubled by both parties being unable to really grasp the big deals. now, paul ryan in his budget had some pretty enormous solutions to this problem dealing with medicare and medicaid, but as soon as he came out with his medicare proposal, the democrats said you want to throw granny over the cliff. so it's very difficult to make these tough choices to get this

debt down. look, every family knows, megyn, you can't just keep borrowing year after year. at some point you have to pay your bills, and the government is no different. megyn: yeah. you think about your children, and you look at that number as we approach this tomorrow, and you wonder what are we giving to them? what are we saddling them with? >> the term i've used for 20 years is fiscal child abuse, and that's really what this is. what great country leaves its debts for its children and grandchildren to pay, especially when we're not buying very much with this money? at least when reagan borrowed, we won the cold war with that money. what have we got to show for it? food stamps and unemployment benefits? megyn: steve moore, thank you, sir. >> see ya. megyn: i now to the campaign trail and a new fight between republicans and democrats over a question made famous in the reagan years: are you better off now than you were four years ago? chief white house correspondent ed henry is traveling with the president in ohio with more, but first we're going to bring with campaign carl cameron who's live in greenville, north carolina, not far from here.

carl? >> reporter: hi, megyn. a couple hundred miles away and very much focused on what's happening with the democratic national convention. today the republican running mate paul ryan will be having an event near greenville. we're in the middle of the introductions now, and you can expect him to immediately go after democrats and the obama administration for their inability over the weekend to answer with a straight yes or no the question of whether you're better off now than you were four years ago. it was the democratic mayor of maryland, martin o'malley, who said now, and then this morning top aides came forward and said, well, absolutely things are better. republicans are going to say it's clearly an example of democrats not knowing where the economy is, and republicans will argue that democrats are out of touch. there is a poll out now by the associated press that suggests that by a better than 2 to 1 margin most americans think they are about where they were four years ago or that things are worse whereas 28% say things are better, and here in north carolina where the democrats had

hoped holding the convention would help keep them this red state traditionally in the blue state column, the polls suggest that mitt romney has a slight edge. it's within the margin of error, but it's a six-point gap and among independents it's also six points. again, within the margin of error, but a clear sign that this state is very much poised for the taking for republicans, notwithstanding the dnc convention in charlotte where you are now, megyn. megyn: carl cameron, thank you. well, just moments ago president obama taking to the stage in ohio where he is campaigning ahead of the dnc. his re-election team now in full damage-control mode following those sunday show performances that carl just mentioned. our chief white house correspondent ed henry picks up the story from there. hey, ed. >> reporter: good to see you, megyn. certainly, they're trying to do a little damage control. we saw governor martin o'malley who yesterday suggested we're not were better off than we werr years ago. he came out today and said, in

fact, we are and started making the case for the president. the president himself making his own case before sort of a rally, union leaders here from the afl-cio here, autoworkers, president touting the auto bailout which is, obviously, important here in ohio, in toledo. bottom line is the president pushed back on governor romney this weekend saying if you had a football coach who lost this much, you would have fired him by now. the president saying we've seen the economic playbook from romney, third down he wants a hail mary to end medicare as we know it. the president urging ohio in his words, time to punt it away in terms of the romney playbook. and then he took this shot at romney's convention speech last week. take a listen. >> despite all the challenges that we face in this new century, we saw three straight days of an agenda out of the last century. it was a rerun. [laughter] you might as well have watched it on black and white tv. [laughter]

with some rabbit ears on there. [laughter] [cheers and applause] should have been on nick at nite. [laughter] >> reporter: now, the romney camp is not sitting idly by, literally. if you look at this video, they had the romney campaign bus circling the president's event in toledo, honking its horn, had a little megaphone shouting out details about the romney economic plan, and there were a lot of, i can tell you, obama fans outside the rally earlier shouting back at the bus and telling it to get away. so here we are on labor day, both sides having it out. it doesn't get any better than this, megyn. [laughter] megyn: wait a minute, they had a megaphone and they were yelling out factoids about -- >> reporter: not factoid, but they were saying he's got the plan for america, and people here shouting back, no, he doesn't, get out of here. this is the president's territory. [laughter] they're duking it out, it's labor day, that's what politics

are all about. it's just beginning now. megyn: don't you love american politics, ed? god, you gotta love it. [laughter] >> reporter: absolutely. megyn: they shout out, they get shouted back to, and so it goes. it's officially the silly season now. ed, thank you. [laughter] >> reporter: great to see you. megyn: well, coming up, a big development on the legal battle facing america's self-proclaimed toughest sheriff. why the feds on the friday before labor day weekend have now quietly dropped their charges against arizona sheriff joe arpaio after an investigation that spanned more than four years, and they certainly had enough publicity about it while it was going on. and former president bill clinton has taken some dramatic detours from democratic talking points in the past. just days before his keynote speech here at the dnc, we will speak with two democratic pollsters about what to expect when our former president, mr. clinton, takes the stage in charlotte. and you just heard how some of the president's most

high-profile surrogates are doing a major about face, at least the one did today, after they were asked about whether today -- we -- are better off than we were four yearses ago. the fallout from that debate just ahead. >> i will be held accountable. you know, i've got four years -- >> you know quickly how people feel about what's happened. >> that's exactly right. and a year from now i think people are going to see we're starting to make some progress, but there's still going to be some feign out there -- pain out there. if i don't have this done in three years, then this is going to be a one-term proposition. haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. there's a pop. wahlalalalallala! pepper, but not pepper, i'm getting like, pep-pepper. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, zip zip zip zip zip! i'm literally getting zinged by the flavor. smooth, but crisp. velvety. kind of makes me feel like a dah zing yah woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8.

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megyn: well, in just two days former president bill clinton will walk onto the stage behind me here and deliver a prime time speech officially nominating president barack obama. this comes after a series of incidents in recent months in which president clinton repeatedly departed from traditional democratic talking points including recent comments about governor mitt romney that were favorable, complimentary and an impromptu run-in with the now-vp nominee on the republican side, paul ryan. take a listen. >> there's to question in term -- no question in terms of getting up and going to the office and, you know, basically performing the essential functions of the office a man who's been governor and is had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold. >> paul ryan. >> how are you? doing great.

>> good to see you. >> good to see you too. >> i'm glad we won this race in new york, but i hope the democrats -- megyn: well, doug schoen is a former adviser to president clinton and pat goodell, both are fox news contributors. doug, there is a report today in "the new york post" quoting an author, someone who has just come out with a book, and they claim that obama advisers had tried to keep bill clinton off of the big stage this week wanting to relegate him to a minor non-prime time speaking role, but bill clinton threatened to boycott the convention unless he was given a role. [laughter] do you believe that? >> no, i really don't.

i think that david axlerod and the team around obama made plenty of mistakes, but i think they recognize when bill clinton has a 65% approval and barack obama i think in gallup had about a 43% approval, that gap of 22 points, which is about as huge as you can get in american politics, particularly among swing voters, means that bill clinton of necessity has to be there especially in a circumstance where the question is are you better off than you were four years ago? because bottom line, the republicans are making the case that we're worse off, and bill clinton is about the only person, indeed, singularly qualified to make the case that we are moving in the right direction. megyn: but is there risk to him, pat? he is still popular, bill clinton, and the polls show even more popular than barack obama is now. is there risk to him in putting out, arguably, the party's most beloved democrat at this thing and then maybe paling in comparison? >> well, yeah, i'm not worried that he will pale in comparison

to the eloquence of his speaking. he's quite a speaker. but the problem is substantively. this is a convention where i think doug and i believe that president obama has to move beyond just the negative attacks and go back to at least some affirmation or some recognition that things haven't gone quite as well and that he has learned some things and start painting a broader vision to get back to the little bit of hope and change. the fundamental problem is that bill clinton represents a centrist approach for pro-growth, and president obama has been much more of a more ideological liberal in terms of government redistribution. if the president is willing to embrace the positions that made clinton who was able to work with republicans after the midterm in '94 a model, then he's got something to say. if he momentum, then he's got a problem because swing voters are disappointed, independents, democrats disappointed with the president, they look at bill clinton and say he's a leader,

barack obama's not. reinforcing that image would not be helpful. megyn: doug, do you believe that your former boss, bill clinton, likes barack obama? because there are a coup l of reports, that same new york post report talks about -- it's triple hearsay, but clinton reportedly said at one point that barack obama, when he was trying to get hillary the nomination, a few years ago this guy would have been carrying our bags, a few years ago this guy would have been getting us coffee, has criticized his plan to raise taxes by saying, you know, now is not the time in the middle of a struggling economy, and then when hillary clinton was vying against barack obama for the nomination and some shots were taken at bill clinton by jesse jackson, a surrogate for then-candidate obama, remember this moment by bill clinton? listen to this. >> i think that they played the race card on me, and we now know from memos from the campaign and everything that they planned to do it all along. megyn: think he likes him? >> i do, actually.

i think that they're working together given that hillary is now the secretary of state. i think there is a sense of common purpose. i know from having talked to bill clinton that he really thinks it would be a profound mistake to the go back to governor romney. he certainly does believe he's qualified to be president, but i think the policies that romney's supporting and the lack of a specific agenda make bill clinton feel that america will be better off than, certainly, with the re-election of president obama. sure, there have been differences, we saw newt gingrich and rick santorum speaking for mitt romney, i'm not at all surprised bill clinton is getting together -- megyn: yeah. they all have their differences. we're told, pat, he's going to, among other things, slam on in the attack on president obama for adding so much to our national debt, and he's going to talk about how he created a balanced budget and surplus and george bush whittled it away. effective? >> well, i think, you know, well, he makes that argument, but then you leave the, you

know, we're going to cross $16 trillion tomorrow, the national debt. this president has added $5 trillion in four years compared to whatever three, four trillion president bush did in eight years. they're both to blame. i think that, you know, there's a little bit of a problem when you do that because there's certain, pardon the expression, elephants in the room there. but i have to say in response to doug who, i think, is being a very loyal person to his president. i don't think these two people like each other at all, and i think president clinton is going to do what he must do to be a good soldier so no one can lay blame to him that he is responsible should barack obama lose. this is a very tight fit going on here, and we will see, and it'll be up to barack obama, i think, to embrace bill clinton, not the other way around. megyn: can you imagine if we opened up on wednesday and said here we are on"america live," it's 1 p.m. and, oh, president clinton's speaking now! [laughter] they didn't want to give him

a -- [laughter] >> the only thing that's wrong with that, i think, is bill clinton's going to be in prime time. but, megyn, i'm sure you remember as i do, i know pat does, in the briefing room when president obama said he had to go, the first lady was calling him, and bill clinton sat back in like he'd never left. [laughter] >> exactly. he took over. [laughter] >> that's what i said about a real leader. megyn: all right. all right, guys, i gotta run. sorry, i appreciate it. thanks, both. >> thank you. megyn: well, for the first time in a long time we are getting an insi look at iran's main nuclear plant, one of the spots said to be on the list of likely targets if israel decides it is out of options to stop the iranian nuclear weapons push diplomatically. up next, what the cameras saw and why they were there. and just moments ago a top labor leader slamming governor romney at an obama campaign event in ohio. just ahead this labor day, we will take a look at what political plans could be in store for some of the country's biggest unions and what they're saying today.

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megyn: well, you don't see this very often, iran this weekend allowed cameras inside a nuclear plant that is sometimes off limits even to the united nations. this is the machines that can produce uranium to a high level of purity, putting iran close to the ability to fashion an atomic weapon. if israel launches an attack on iran's nuclear facilities,

military experts believe this plant would be very high on israel's target list. amy kellogg is live in london with all the detail on how and why this happened. amy? >> reporter: hi, megyn. well, a top non-proliferation expert tells me that the mongolian president's visit to the main facility was really akin to a visiting head of state inspecting a special guard. in other words, really more symbolism than substance. if he had been let in to the disputed military site, that would have been another matter, but that remains off limits. u.n. inspectors visit this facility regularly, journalists occasionally. i have even been. it's not clear what the president of mongolia could have picked up, but he said that, quote: he learned a lot about how the uranium is used for peaceful purposes. last week the north koreans signed an agreement for greater cooperation with iran. iran's deputy vice president called for greater trade between the two nations, quote: the axis

of the world's resistance. now, megyn, all of this activity happened at or around the non-aligned movement summit which took place in tehran which appeared also to be used by iran to show the world or that it's really not that isolated. but at that summit the u.n. secretary-general really criticized iran in tehran about its hostile statements towards israel and about its noncompliance with the iaea, and egypt's new president criticized iran for choosing the wrong team, basically, when it comes to syria. megyn? megyn: amy kellogg, thank you. well, a key question from the reagan years is now at the middle of a new fight on the campaign trail. is america better off than it was four years ago? see what -- why that is today's hot debate right after this break. plus, the feds calling an end to their criminal investigation of sheriff joe or arpaio. joe arpaio. what led to the sudden and quiet about face?

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[♪...] megyn: welcome to the time warner arena here in charlotte, north carolina. here you can see where we're broadcasting from, i'm waving down to our camera on the floor and all of you, so we've got you covered. the cameras on the floor where you will see the speakers take to the stage tomorrow and wednesday, and you can see us up here in our skybox so we can give you the bird's eye view as well of the delegates and so on. then thursday we head to bank of america stadium where president obama is going to give his acceptance speech in front of a crowd that they very much hope will be 75,000 people strong. we're told they're busing people in to make sure that the stadium is full, trying to replicate

what we saw in denver in 2008. and we'll talk with debbie wasserman-schultz about whether that is likely to happen half an hour away. meantime, as the big party is about to get underway, team obama is finding it is not easy exactly to stay on message when it comes what has become a key question in most presidential elections: are americans better off than they were four years ago? on the sunday talk shows this week, key members of the president's re-election effort dodged the question, and one high-profile democrat yesterday gave an answer that may have been a little too honest. listen here. >> david, is the average american better off than four years ago? >> chris, as i said to you before, i think the average american recognizes that it took years to create the crisis that erupted in 2008 and peaked in january of 2009, and it's going to take some time to work through it. >> can the president argue unequivocally that americans are

better off today than they were four years ago? >> listen, george, i think the american people understand that we got into a terrible economic situation, a recession only that the great depression, the only thing the country's ever seen like it. so they know we had a deep hole. it took us a long time to get into that hole, it's going to take us a long time to get out of it. >> can you honestly say people are better off today than they were four years ago? >> no, but that's not the question of this election. without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before george bush brought us the bush recession, the bush deficits, the series of desert wars charged for the first time to credit cards, the national credit card. megyn: that last democrat you heard from there is the maryland governor, martin o'malley. he has a key speaking role this week in charlotte, he's a main surrogate of the obama campaign, but apparently in the 24 hours since that appearance, governor o'malley has had a change of heart. listen to him just this morning.

>> we are clearly better off as a country because we're now creating jobs rather than losing them. >> but you said -- >> we have not recovered all that we lost in the bush recession. that's why we need to continue to move forward. megyn: don't you love politicians? brad blakeman is here, former deputy assistant to president george w. bush, and dick harpootlian is here in charlotte, chairman of south carolina's democratic party. it's not north carolina, but it's south carolina. and welcome back to the program, both of you. so let me start with you on that, dick. don't you love politicians? it's like they don't care that there's videotape and that we have the tape from 24 hours earlier. are you better off than four years ago? no. twenty-four hours later, of course we are. i think we know happened in the interim, do we not? >> i think it's the silly season. megyn, it's important to understand, i think what all of them said is accurate, and that is that the country is better off now than it was four years

ago. we're moving in the right direction. i think it's clear that the situation that barack obama inherited, 800,000 jobs a month lost, we've had positive job growth for the last 26 months. you know, this is the way i put it when republicans try about this. it's like i was hit by a drunk driver, we'll call him the republican party. both my legs are broken. the sur that's treating -- surgeon that's treating me, barack obama, is making tremendous strides in treating me, and the driver's chiding him for not fixing it. barack obama's fixing it but not fast enough for mitt romney and paul ryan. megyn: brad, can you answer my question? because the suggestion out there is that governor o'malley was cory bookerred, remember cory booker who said he had no problem with bain capital and

that was not a good line of attack, and then 24 hours later walked it way back, and now here we see the governor doing the same thing. tell me what happened. >> what happened is he probably got a phone call from axlerod or plouffe who said, hey, walk it back. you've got to do this right away. we can't have somebody who's such a star in the democratic party be so off message. but nothing was more off message than when chris wallace pointedly asked david axlerod are we better off, and he looked like a deer in the headlights. the facts speak for themselves. during the time that obama took office, gas was $1.80 a gallon, it's now $3.80 a gallon, the highest it's ever been on a labor day. the average median income was 54,000 a year, it's now 50,000 a year. the deficit was $10 trillion, it's now $16 trillion. record foreclosures, record bankruptcies. it is what it is. nobody believes -- and it's 70% of americans regardless of party

affiliation believe not only is the country headed down the wrong track, but also they're not better off today than they were four years ago, and that's just the plain fact. megyn: but, dick, is president obama operating under, you know, an unfair disadvantage on that whole question? because this election cycle was a very strange one back in 2008 where the country was doing very well. we had low unemployment, we had good stats across the board in many ways, and then we met with this major financial implosion on september 15, 2008, right before the election. and it was that, you know, explosion, implosion, however you want to put it that then caused such a steep decline. >> well, i think you're right, megyn, that it did cause a steep decline. and, brad, this is like turning a supertanker, you don't turn it on a dime. it's going to take a while to -- >> you guys -- [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> you are, you are running do. >> no, no. >> i'm going to use your line, you've run us into the ditch. >> no, no.

you, in the bush white house and the romney campaign, merely want to rearrange the deck chairs on the titanic. we want to steer this ship of state, if you will, in the right direction, and mitt romney, what's his plan? how's he -- where's he going to get the revenue from? he's got it in a lock box with his money in switzerland and the caymans. we don't know, and he won't say. >> let me tell you how you create revenue, you give money to the people to create job, and that's the difference. we believe in the velocity of money. every time a dollar changes hands amongst the individual population is what gins up more money for the treasury. it's not -- megyn: let me ask you, brad, let me jump in and ask you that same question, brad. is it fair to say as a metric of of whether president obama deserves reare you -- re-election are you better off than you were four years ago? let's say john mccain had won that election. do you think he'd be able to answer, yes, are you better than you were four years ago?

we had such a huge meltdown, and it happened just before the president took office, and he entered in the thick of it. >> i think we would have been in much better shape, and here's why. we wouldn't have been ruling out of ideology, we'd be ruling out of reality. we wouldn't have created a crisis on health care when we had an honest to goodness crisis on the economy, and i believe john mccain would have attacked that which needed to be fixed, and that's the economy. and we wouldn't have been spending $800 billion in stimulus money that went to the unions as a reward for them supporting this president. there's a fundamental difference in what republicans believe and what democrats believe, and that is we believe in the power of the individual, they believe in the power of government. they've grown government to the detriment of the general economy. >> you know -- megyn: all right, guys. >> megyn, let me say this real quickly -- megyn: quickly, dick. >> government jobs have shrunk under the obama administration. the huge increase in jobs has come in the private sector. >> nonsense. >> brad, get your facts straight. [inaudible conversations]

>> 23 million people are out of work. megyn: i really have to go. brad mentioned the unions, and we have a union segment coming up right after this break. so good-bye to you. thank you both. [laughter] i'm going to go down and see dick after the show. that ought to be interesting, won't it? i'll bring you an update later. in just days, the commander in chief will accept the democrats' nomination here in north carolina, a state where unemployment is at 9.6%, where same-sex marriage was just banned and where a new labor law has the unions so angry they are skipping in the convention completely. so why exactly did the democrats choose this city? chairwoman of the dem character national committee debbie wasserman-schultz joins us at the top of the hour, and we'll talk about it. plus, some prominent public worker unions promise a strong effort for the president's re-election campaign in critical midwest states. this labor day we're going to look at what to expect from big labor and what they're predicting. you might find this interesting. right after this break. people with a machine.

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>> his goal is to pit the american people against each other so that we won't vote about the things that matter. well, let me tell you something, what mitt romney is doing is wrong. those aren't the values that i grew up with. what he's doing is beneath the dignity of the american people, and we won't let him win! [cheers and applause] megyn: well, that was the president of the nation's largest federation of trade unions speaking at an obama rally just about an hour ago with some fiery language directed at governor mitt romney. union workers, of course, are a big chunk of the president's base, but down here in charlotte, a home to this week's dnc, some of the biggest unions

in the country are refusing to attend this convention over what they say is anti-union legislation here in north carolina. tucker carlson is a fox news contributor and editor of "the daily caller." trumka's turning the republican attack back on them -- >> right. megyn: saying all we heard last week is about how the democrats want to divide us, class warfare, and now he's saying it's mitt romney who wants to divide can us. >> yes. not clear if that's going to work as a line of argument. it is striking how many of the big unions sat this one out. north carolina is a right to work state, to a lot of the building trades unions did not come, all the public sector unions -- megyn: and they did come in 2008, and they donated money -- >> of course, and they are a huge part of the president's base. to some ec tent, they sat it out. this campaign has raised a higher proportion from hollywood -- megyn: why would they do that? if you read the articles, they feel that mitt romney will definitely be bad for them, and they're a little ticked off at barack obama for some of his

policies, the teachers' unions don't love some of his education reforms. but it seems like they believe that mitt romney would be terrible for them. so why would they -- >> i think that's right. well, because they're miffed by the choice of north carolina, they're also upset because they don't think obama fought hard enough for card check. they helped get him elected in 2008, they thought they were going to get that in return, they didn't. megyn: he made recess appointments to the nlrb and then filled those spots with people who are extremely pro-union. how much more does the union want? >> there might be something else going on here. this is my theory, and i think the scott walker saga says a lot about this. the unions put all this money to unseat scott walker -- megyn: in wisconsin. >> -- and they failed. what does that tell you? for the working man's union, not the public sector employee unions but the we make things unions, i don't think their membership is behind barack obama to the extent that

previous democratic candidates had their support at all. megyn: how does that reflect itself in this campaign? today they promised they're going to throw a bunch of money in, they're pledging to spend more than $100 million to elect barack obama, they're going to put it into states like wisconsin, indiana, midwestern states that they believe he can and must win. >> and it may have a big effect in wisconsin specifically, but more than 40% of union households in that state did not vote to unseat scott walker, so it tells you something about the individual loyalties of union members, especially, again, the sort of traditional unions, the teamsters and unions like that. they're just not for obama. in some ways, i don't think they have an emotional connection to him. and in some ways that makes sense. he's from sort of the academic, intellectual wing of the party, and they're from the sort of early 20th century wing of the party. i think they'll have less effect than a lot of republicans fear they will. megyn: are they starting to

fade? >> well, it definitely is starting to fade outside the public sector unions. i mean, all the growth in the past 20 years in organized labor has been among public sector employees, and that's one of the reasons so many states are facing -- states in which there -- megyn: government workers. >> yeah. states that haven't, like, discovered oil in the past ten years through hydraulic fracking, they're going bankrupt because they signed these really burdensome union deals. but the rest of organized labor, yeah, is in trouble. megyn: how much of an impact will that make financially? if they don't donate the $100 million, or if they do and that's all they do as opposed to the ground game, getting people out, how big a hit is that to barack obama? he's got hollywood money, is anna wintour going to be on the ground in north carolina getting people to the polls? [laughter] >> i think you just made a smart distinction. there's a massive difference between money and getting out

the vote. there's not one voter who doesn't know enough to make a decision. if he wants to know enough, you can learn. i don't think the money is the key. especially for obama, it's getting out the vote because the obama constituencies he needs to win are people who don't typically vote in high numbers. on the republican side you have a lot of voters over 65, you can't stop them from voting. megyn: right. >> they vote in force every time. but on the obama side, they need encouragement, and if they don't get it, obama won't win, and the unions are good at getting that. megyn: according to the top republican party official in north carolina, he says the democrats have lost 180,000 voters since the last go around, so if you see union members who just aren't enthused, maybe they don't get to the polls themselves -- >> exactly. megyn: -- donate or round up the other people. so it's all down to anna. [laughter] do you know who she is? >> you know that. megyn: all right, tucker, thanks

for being here. did you see the devil wears prada? based on her. meryl streep. come on, get out the vote. coming up, president obama's team has been relentlessly trying to paint governor romney as, quote, bad for the middle class releasing a brand new ad this morning. karl rove will respond to this with his white board and magic marker just ahead. plus, watching these monster trucks can be fun for families and can car fans until things do not go as planned. coming up, we'll show you what happened when the action crashed right into the stands. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios!

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>> president obama and a band of

his merry men might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the arizona/mexico border saying welcome all illegals to your united states, our home is your home. megyn: well, what a shift in this federal investigation into sheriff joe arpaio. the feds have now closed their criminal investigation of america's so-called toughest sheriff. the feds releasing that news late on the friday just before the labor day weekend. sheriff arpaio had maintained all along that the lawsuit had no merit, the investigation, i should say. he was accused of abuse of power, mostly for misusing county credit cards, they said, and for allegedly misspending tax money approved for jail-related expenses. this announcement will mark the end of a four-year investigation that technically began under the bush administration, but sheriff joe has maintained that it ramped up under president obama,

and he believed it was political. there are still civil suits filed by another group, a group of latinos, against sheriff around pie -- arpaio's office for alleged racial profiling. now the feds have ended their criminal investigation of this man. fox newswet alert for you, president obama following on the heels of governor mitt romney, now heading to louisiana later today to visit areas damaged by hurricane isaac. governor romney was there first on friday taking a break from the campaign trail for a tour of flood-ravaged areas. meantime, a parish southeast of new orleans is submerged in water, the level as high as five feet. nearly 3,000 people are still in shelters, and across the state about 150,000 are without electricity in the wake of that storm. casey steegal is live in new orleans with more. casey? >> reporter: yeah, megyn. those commitments that you speak of, communities still underwater at this point primarily about 10

miles down the mighty mississippi river back there. we can't even bring you live pictures because the only way you get there is by boat, so we sent photographers in, and you can see the video for yourself. we're talking about areas like myrtle imroaf, louisiana -- grove, louisiana, neighborhoods that look like rivers. meantime, homeland security secretary janet napolitano stopping in mississippi and here in louisiana over the weekend pledging the federal government's support. listen. >> we will stay until this recovery is complete. we are here to be part of the team, part of the team in the louisiana and make sure that hurricane isaac is put to rest as soon as we can for all of those affected. >> reporter: at this point all of the evacuation orders have been lifted, the national guard here distributing ice, water, food to people who desperately need it, megyn. megyn: casey casey steegal, tha.

well, in just days the commander in the chief will accept the democrats' nomination for the presidency in charlotte, north carolina. this is a state where unemployment is at 9.6%, well above the national average, same-sex marriage was just banned, and a new labor law has the unions so angry they're skipping the convention entirely. why this city? debbie wasserman-schultz is her live next. ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonderhat other questionable choices i've made? [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. [ male announcer ] isn't always the one you plan to take. whoa, check it out. hey baby goat... nohat's not yours...

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megyn: fox news alert as democrats gather for their convention in charlotte and the president continues to tinker with his big speech. questions about what message he will bring to the american people thursday night. welcome, everybody, i'm megyn kelly. joining us to discuss the stakes for the president. chris stirewalt the host of "play" on foxnews.com you say one american not better off than four years ago, barack obama.

why? >> probably because it was so good for him four years ago. if you think about where the president was going into his convention in denver in 2008, he was more than a political candidate. he was the leader of a movement. americans were signing up to volunteer, old people, black people, white people. it was a coalition people couldn't believe it was a fantastic story. he delivered a huge speech and he launched himself into a closing stretch of the campaign with some ups and downs that took him to an impressive win. he cops to charlotte with a different circumstance because he has a party that has significant divisions wind. we know about the moderate democrats who stayed away but we also know about the occupy wall street folks and the union folks who are not happy about the circumstances in charlotte. we know the president is stuck on message. they don't have the message

pivot they wanted to have. they have been hitting mitt romney effectively for many many months. but noise the time they would hope they could turn to a more forward-looking optimistic message. what we are hearing from the president, he's still on the attack about mitt romney. he comes to charlotte in a much worse position than in denver. but he may be able to turn it around. he likes a high-stakes speech and what he has to to thursday is very high stakes. megyn: we'll be here in the time-warner center. it's not that i'm not going to pay my bill but i have been on the road and it's coming soon in the road. then we are moving over to bank of america stadium which apparently seats 75,000 people. and there is a question about whether they can fill that up. it's tough on any given day to get 75,000 people to show up for a political event. but we are told they are busing

some folks in. tell us about the optics and challenges. >> first of all it has to not rain. dick harpootlian says a 30-40% chance of rain are says no that's a 70% to 60% chance of not rain. as long as the camera shots look right for the folks at home it will be okay. megyn: why even bother doing that. he had that when it was a different kind of campaign. but why does he have to set the standard for himself so high in he is an audacious, unusual politician. he ran for the presidency as a freshman senator. he has been successful in being audacious. no incup bent president has run a sustained negative campaign like barack obama is. people don't don't and he says we are doing it anyway.

audacity is not just part of his book title. they are laying a big, big bet thursday. they figure if they are going to pull it off they will get a bunch. megyn: the lacest forecast is 40% chance after rain that day but only 20% on that evening. maybe president obama will get lucky and the gods will shine down on him. context on president obama's big convention speech. a senior adviser says the president feels good about the draft his acceptance speech but he is still quote tinkering with it." he has not done a full-scale run through or practice session of the speech. but in 2008 in 10 ever, then senator barack obama did not do his first full run through there will three hours before his

speech. reporters are asking questions we have heard in recent weeks about what democrats chose this state for their convention. the state's unemployment rate stands at 9.6%. that's well above the national average. the democratic governor was rated as the least popular governor in america and is not seeking reelection and the afl-cio is so upset at north carolina's right to work law they decided to skip this convention all together. voters passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. and the president of course came out personally in support of same-sex marriage earlier this year. joining me. the chairman of the democratic national committee, debbie wasserman-shultz. what's the deal. why charlotte in light of those challenges? >> we chose charlotte, north carolina as the site for our

democratic national convention this year because we were planting a flag in the south and sending a strong message across the country that we weren't going to cede any region of this country to the republicans. when it comes to the two choices voters have in front of them. the carolinians and folks in this region know, we never left north carolina. we have been organizing here since before 2008 when he was elected. they know president obama has been fighting for the working class. he, focused on making things in america today. give up that we have had a resurgence in manufacturing. more jobs created in manufacturing since the 1990s. that message resonates with north carolinians. manufacturing is an important part of their economy here and it's starting to come back. we wanted to make sure that because president obama won north carolina in 2008 we know we have an opportunity to win it

again and look what president obama and north carolina in the win column for him on election day as we organize and mobile eyed north carolina across the south. megyn: it's about getting votes in north carolina. a state barack obama won in 2008. today there is a new poll that puts romney leading 47-43 here, though it has a margin of error of 3%. even if it might help with some locals in north carolina, it's ticked off enough democrats nationally that it wasn't worth it, like the unions who don't like the right to life ward and the gay activists who don't like the constitutional amendment here. >> because we are putting on the most inclusive nominating convention in history. today we open our activity with carolina's best.

a community festival open to the public celebrating the carolinas and virginia and inviting the public in. it's different than the invitation only affair we saw in high home state last week. we are continuing through this week and will close out the week with president obama accepting our party's nomination at bank of america stadium in front of tens of thousands of mayor cans. we use it as an organizing tool. if you recall, when president obama accepted our party's nomination the first time in denver, on that single day we signed up 25,000 volunteers. and we put some momentum behind barack obama which we expect to do once again leading into the fall campaign and our grassroots. people power campaign will have the kind of momentum that will propel president obama back to the white house. megyn: we had reince priebus on the show, your counterpart in

the rnc. and we asked him about hurricane isaac. it looks like you will get lucky thursday night. is there a backup plan? what if it rains at this bank of america stadium when the president is making his big speech? >> we have a variety of scenarios if mother nature isn't smiling on us. but we believe with the weather forecasters and the resill yafns our activists and the folks that want to come -- megyn: what about the resilience of hair. >> i understand. trust me with the curly sheriff, trust me the humidity and rain is an issue. but we'll weather the storm and make sure president obama's message of moving our economy forward and fighting for the working class and middle class families. having a honest conversation about where we have been and where we want to go. if you work hard and play by the

rules in america you can be successful. megyn: i think you could have gone the a dome, but that's just me. could have got and domed stadium. the governor o'molly is getting pushback saying we are not better off than we were four years ago. then 24 hours later saying yes we are better off man we were four years ago. >> four years ago we were hemmaging 700,000 jobs a month. now we created 4.5 million jobs since obama took office in the private sector pap resurgence in manufacturing and companies bringing jobs back to america thanks to president obama's tax policies. yes, we are better off. we have a ways to go and president obama will lay out how

we can continue to move tour economy forward and make sure we can fight for every one to have an opportunity to be successful, not just the people who already are as romney and ryan propose. what went on with governor o'mally? what happened. i took a shot. i any we have our suspicions. it's a pleasure see you. congratulations on your big week. hope we see you again this week. the obama campaign rolling out a tough new ad accusing governor romney of backing a tax plan that will hurt the middle class. carl roifs onboard with his white board and magic markers. courts are making decisions on various voter laws that could impact who turns out to vote and where. plus a major polling firm says no bounce in the polls for

governor romney and congressman ryan. two top pollsters explain what's going on here just ahead. >> mr. chairman and delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. [cheers and applause] to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

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megyn: the chief of staff for immigration and customs enforcement or i.c.e. is stepping down from her post amid allegations of misconduct. she is accused of sexually harassing at least three male employees. in her resignation letter she says the allegations are you be found bud she is stepping down to end distractions within that agency. as democrats gear up for their big convention, the obama campaign releasing a tough new tv ad accusing of governor romney of giving millionaires a tax break or want to go at the expense of the middle class. the added schedule to air in colorado, new hampshire, virginia, ohio and florida. here is a sample. >> the middle class is carrying

a heavy load in america. but mitt romney doesn't see it. under the romney plan a middle class family will pay an nch $2,000 more a year in taxes. megyn: karl rove is the former senior adviser to president george w. bush. they say citing the quote centrist tax policy center that romney's plan is going to cost the middle class $2,000 a year. >> the romney plan is to reduce all tax rates by 20%. the bottom rate which is 10% would drop to 8%. the way you pay for it is by closing loopholes abductions. who would those benefit? the people at the top of the pyramid. under the romney plan the rich pay a greater share of the income tax. we simplify the tax for middle

class and row income families. megyn: here is what they say. they say it will slash $360 billion in federal revenues which means we'll have to increase taxes on the middle class. >> that's how they get to that phoney number. romney says the tax reform has to be revenue neutral. any loopholes we close go to allow the rates to go down for everybody at the same right and the goal is to reduce them by 1/5, by 20%. but he made it clear this has got to be revenue neutral. this is how they get to this phoney number. they say this won't work and i will be forced to raise taxes on the bottom. but romney made it clear we have got to find the loopholes which benefit the wealthy most of all and that's how we are going to pay for it. megyn: if it's lowering your tax rate 20% across the board for everybody, how does it result in

a tax hike for the middle class? >> it doesn't. we know the preferences in the code typically benefit the rich people. the rich people have the lawyers to get these things stuffed in the code and the middle class taxpayer usually doesn't benefit from these preferences. they are talking about middle class taxes. under obama there has already been a middle class tax increase noarmt of economic policies that reduced the median family income from $5,000. it happened since he came into office. normally what happens in a recovery is you see a median family income growing more rapidly than average. here it has declined. we have an individual mandate tax in the healthcare bill. if you don't have health inn you pay 2.5% of your adjusted gross

income. if you have got a flexible tax savings account you can no longer use it. the itemized medical deductions is going up. it used to be if your medical expenses were more than 7.5% of your adjusted income you could write them off. president obama raised that the 10%. under an obama-care there is a new tax on every health insurance policy in america. 2.8%. there are new tax on hospitals. if you go to a hospital you are going to pay more because we are taxing hospitals under obama-care. there is a new tax on drug companies, a tax on medical devices. these tax are half a trillion dollars over the next decade. we have had $8 billion tax on guaranteed student loans. they get issued at 2%. the students pay back at 6%.

the gap between what we are creating the money at and loaning the students at isr -- is $8 billion that go to obama-care. he wants half of all small business income in america. his principle tax cut is taking money from people who pay taxes and giving it to people who do not pay tax. virtually all of his so-called tax cuts involve inessence a transfer payment for the 50% of people who pay taxes to the nearly 50% who don't. megyn: they struggle against his image that the republicans only like rich people. >> i thought convention helped. you have people like susanna march continues and marco rubio. i only went to college because i got a $1,500 a year scholarship.

i'm a republican and you saw many people saying we came from modest beginnings. but republicans stand for the trite rise without government being in your way. megyn: what do you think happened to governor o'malley in those 24 hours? >> i think he got whipsawed from the white house. somebody ought to put together, cory berke and o'malley. they ought to put together the stockholm syndrome tapes of all these people recanting what they said. megyn: weren't you the guy that used to have to do senate. >> i didn't have to do that. i had people for that. but it's been amazing how many people have gotten off message. megyn: they come back to the cameras, 24 hours later. some of the outcomes of the november election are being decided by the courts.

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megyn: a fox news alert from the campaign trail. while the democrats are gearing up for the big party in charlotte, the gop is making sure it' voting for -- fighting for votes in north carolina. paul ryan was at east carolina university in greeneville. >> there is a little gathering over in charlotte. heard about this? now, we know that your governor

and lieutenant governor and president obama is over there. and president obama is going to be giving a big speech and there will be a lot of speeches, lots of words. let me quote the will be four years ago. if you don't have a record to run on then you paint your oh point as someone people should run from. ladies and gentlemen, that's exactly what barack obama is doing today. you see, the president has no record to run on. in fact every president since the great depression who asked americans to send them into a second term could say that you were better off today than you were four years ago except for jimmy carter and president obama. [cheers and applause]

>> in july of 1980, the unemployment rate was 7.8%. for the past 42 months it's been above 8% under obama's failed leadership. when businesses go bankrupt -- when businesses go bankrupt that means fewer paychecks. fewer jobs. the unemployment rate in north carolina is 9.6%. in 1980 under jimmy carter 330,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy. last year under president obama's famed leadership, 1.4 million businesses filed for bankruptcy. we have a very clear choice. take a look at people having a hard time making their mortgage payment. 77,000 delinquent mortgages by the time jimmy carter left office.

under president obama, 3 million. so when you take a look at what we are going to hear in charlotte today, the president can say a lot of things and he will. but he can't tell you that you are better off. simply put, the jimmy carter years look like the good old days compared to where we are right now. and so that's why we have a very crystal clear choice. we can either choose to stay on the path we are on, a path of debt, a path of doubt and decline, a path of joblessness or we can get things turned around. we can elect mitt romney the next president of the united states and we can get america back on track. that's what we'll do. [cheers and applause] megyn: paul ryan here in north carolina attending a campaign

event. you heard that phrase from him every times. debt, doubt and decline. this is a message the romney ryan campaign needs to bring in the final stage of this presidential campaign. this broadcast had the breaking news friday when president obama's campaign won a legal challenge to a law that created special voting opportunity for military families in ohio. the president and his team didn't want only military families to have this. they wanted everyone to have this voting special opportunity. but this is just one of a number of voting cases in the courts right now. up next, how the judges and their rulings could impact in a very real way who wins the white house. we are back in 3 minutes from the democratic national convention live in charlotte, north carolina.

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[♪...] megyn: back here live in charlotte, north carolina with the news of a big court win for the obama campaign friday, raising questions about how the courts could impact this november election. john, welcome back. i have been chronicling the past 7 election cycles the increasingly litigious issue. you said we could literally wind up at the point where the politicians can cut out the middleman and the courts could decide the elections.

>> since 2000 we have had lawyers enter this fray to the point where you no longer have to win with a margin of victory. you have to win with a margin beyond litigation. john kerry's lawyer said if joe had been closer they would have dwn to court and we could see it tide up to for weeks. a federal district judge said ohio cannot scale back its early voting by was being done at the request of the local officials. ohio said the last three days after the election we'll let military voters vote but the district judge said that's unfair and you will have to extend early voting up to election day. it now goes to the federal court. i think it's clear the military can be treated separately because they are different from

the average voter. megyn: >> the national guard. marine corps. all of them said this is outrageous for what you are trying to do. megyn: it's a justification for treating us differently. >> we have enough obstacles in waive our military. megyn: we have seen the obama administration step in to try to challenge voter i.d. laws. overall how are those challenges going? >> they lost in pennsylvania, that was a state court. they lost in texas. megyn: voters in texas won't have to show voter i.d. but voters in pennsylvania will. >> probably. the he peels will probably run up to election day. judicial watch has sued in ohio and indiana forcing counties to clean up their vote were registration rolls. we have dozens of counties where

there are more registered voters on the books than there are adults according to the census bureau. megyn: the reality is as far as the presidential election goes, there are only a few states that matter. with all due deference to our friend in texas. >> there are lots of other races. megyn: for the purposes of this race. the presidency. ohio, pennsylvania, florida, all those states have huge election challenges that could change the face of the election. >> we'll see iowa start to vote in three weeks. i think we have people voting before the first debates. i think we basically have taken convenience too far. megyn: early voting -- >> or absentee voting. >> i'm not going to be in iowa

november 6, may i please fill out my ballot? >> that's fine. but now we don't have any excuse necessary. imagine you were suing someone in court before a jury and najt middle of your lawyer summation three of the jurors walked out and said i have heard enough. you would be outraged. we are having people vote 4-5 weeks before the election in some states. megyn: karl rove was saying -- i said do the debates matter lot? he said the first debate. megyn: i said why not the second and third? he said the voting is already underway. the first debate is the one that matters because a lot of them have already cast their votes. >> no matter what happens after the first debate and people start to vote. if there is a scandal or some candidate flubs up, you can't change your vote back. once you are voted you can't take it back. megyn: how many lawyers -- last

election cycle what was it 10,000 per side. >> we are predict 10,000 lawyers on either side. that's an enormous amount of mischief. that spells lawsuits and confusion and both sides will be lawyering up. megyn: what is likely to happen? it only becomes relevant if we see a tight election. we have seen polls that have been razor thin for weeks now. >> the polls have this election closer than the bush v. gore election and bush v. kerry. we could have florida and all over the country. and remember florida took 47 days to resolve. we didn't have a president-elect for 47 days. megyn: can you imagine if we saw that on a greater scale than we saw in 2000? unbelievable. book coming out?

>>it is out. who's counting. megyn: check it out. folks, john's book. high winds and dry heat fueling a massive filed fire. plus, you just heard congressman paul ryan from the campaign trail. his speech last week was considered a home run by many but the pollsters are telling us they haven't seen any increase in the romney-ryan numbers since then. >> we have a crystal clear choice. we can either choose to stay on the path we are on, a path of debt, a past doubt and decline, a bath of joblessness or we can get things turned around and elect mitt romney the next president of the united states and get america back on track. that's what we'll do. the doctore that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok...

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megyn: her than 30 million viewers tuned in for governor romney's speech at the democratic convention. the governor has dwroat see a major bounce from his big night in tampa. why is that? scott last miewns is president of ross musen reports.com and steve hayes is the wrier for "the weekly standard" and a fox news contributor. scott, what do you make of it? >> 30 million is great. but it means 270 million americans were doing something else. the people watching were primarily partisan republicans and they are not the undecide voters. this is as non-event for most americans. but this race is primarily about barack obama. and for the last 2 1/2 years his job approval ratings have

barely budged. that means it will be a close race and one speech, one convention won't change that. megyn: have you shown any bounce? >> we show a modest bounce. president obama is doing 3 points worse. romney doing 3 points better. but the race is very close. it's where it's been the last three months. we have shown governor romney consistently ahead. right now he's up 4 points. that's a very modest bounce. megyn: steve hayes what do you think it? >> part of the reason is mitt romney picked paul ryan earlier than is traditional for a typical republican nominee, so you saw something of a bounce after the ryan pick. if you look at the before the ryan pick.

it was 4-pointish. if you look at swing state polls in june and july president obama was leading swing state polls by a margin of 4. and today they are pretty close to evenly split. so i think you saw this bounce with you you saw it earlier with the selection of paul ryan coming earlier than it usually does. megyn: last year, last time around john mccain got a 6-point bounce. but he had announced her much closer to the convention than romney announced ryan, scott. >> that's right. we can pick this apart. steve is talking about the trend in those averages. part of that comes because before paul ryan was picked most of the polls western registered voter polls. now a few more are starting to go to likely voter models. we use likely voters all the way through. as all of the polls shift to likely voter models, mitt mitt romney'ss will look better.

this race hasn't changed the much for a couple of months september for one detail. republicans are much more enthusiastic about the ticket than they were before paul ryan was selected. about it hasn't improved the numbers for the romney-ryan campaign. megyn: this is the second time in history where the conventions are so close together. seeing the bounce we used to see a long time ago when one party would have its convention and there would be a month between the next one, he says those days are gone. >> if you look at the way this was covered friday, saturday and sunday, we flew together from tampa to charlotte, and on "special report" that night we talked about the republican convention but we also previewed the democratic convention. you look at sunday shows this weekend the focus was partially looking back but also looking forward. so there was very little time

for the republican arguments to air out and marinate. megyn: when you say 30 million watches, but 270 million didn't. it was a non-event for most americans. isn't that sales true? if that were the reason we would never see a post-convention bounce. >> the world is much different now with 24-7 news coverage. with twitter covering every moment of everything. back when ronald reagan ran for president we didn't have cable news networks. people had a convention and it wasn't just the speech they watched. the talk marinated and the whole discussion was about what ronality ald reagan might have said and it was the news coverage that went with it. right now we are not having that discussion. because the news cycle moves so fast, we are going to see the same challenge for president obama at the end of his convention because friday

morning a new unemployment report come out that will take away some of the coverage of the democratic convention. megyn: steve, you tell me. if each side can find a way to justify its own beliefs. right? if bounce matters and president obama gets one out of this week. the democrats will be telling us the bounce is critical. and the same is true on the other side. it's almost half and half, isn't it? half the times you get a bounce you won. and half the times you got a bounce you lost. >> i think that's right. the democrats may have some small advantage because their arguments here -- the speeches they make, the excitement you feel in the hall for democrats will have a chance to resonate and sit out there for a couple days. they may have a slight advantage. but i agree with scott's big take away point. this is about the big picture. the race has been remark reply stable for several months. basically if you look at the

next 64 days, we'll be talking about which candidate and which party can better make the case that they are in a position of leadership. they are willing to lead the country, take the country by talking about the big issues in the direction the voters want. that's ultimately who will win the election. megyn: you mentioned the swing state polling. i wanted to ask you our seeing. as much as we like to preextent states like new york and california matter. maybe not so much. their outcomes are a foregone conclusion. not so in the 11 swing states. >> we are track can the 11 swing states. mitt romney getting little bit of a bounce. the biggest takeaway. president obama's approval has fallen four points. megyn: as for the excitement in the halls here. i'm sure we'll feel it. today i didn't see one person

here in the halls of time-warner center because nothing's happened and it's labor day. people are out with their families. >> i was at a restaurant, the local wild wing cafe. there was considerable excitement with people wearing their "i love obama-care" buttons. megyn: thank you both so much. a fast-moving wild fire sparks evacuations in a place that attracted thousands of visitors every labor day weekend. crews racing to contain it flames. we are live with that story. republicans had their fun. now it's the democrats' turn. we have more from the democratic convention in north carolina as folks in charlotte get ready for the crowds. they will come. we are back in three minutes. [ male announcer ] this is anna, her long day teaching the perfect swing

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megyn: a monster truck out of control slides into a crowd at a race in oregon. you see the blue pick up as it veers towards the stands. the cameraman running to get out of the way. the truck struck a barrier before driving into the crowds. three people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. wow! extreme weather alert on a fast-moving wild fire at the angeles national fort. the flames starting near a campground torching 4,000 acres, sparking evacuations at popular

labor day camping spot. >> reporter: we are in the middle of fire season in the west. we covered major fires already. every single western state and we have a couple months to go. incredible pictures coming in from our affiliate. as it flew over the fire you can seat glow from the mountains. if you are flying into la -- flo los angeles from the east, they are to the right. 4,000 acres burned. 400 firefighters are on this fire. there are 30 engines, six helicopters and one tanker. the cause is under investigation. at this hour it's not threatening any major housing developments. the bad news is it's a popular weekend. 12,000 people would normally go up into these mountains to camp.

they have all been evacuated not necessarily because of the threat of the fire but firefighters needed actos to this fire. it could potentially become a problem depending on which way it goes. there aren't a lot of winds in southern california. there is a small wind but not a bad one like you would see in the typical fires we have when the santa anas come through 60-70 miles an hour. these winds are that. but things are tinder dry across the west. as we look at the budgets from the states, many of them have exceeded the money they set aside for this fire season and we still have a couple months to go. we are told this fire is 5% contained and there is nobody threatened as of this hour. megyn: the going states still reeling from hurricane isaac. hundreds of thousands coping

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